


A Study in Elves

by Washedawaycloud



Series: Mar Bellanaris Alas'nir [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alienages, Gen, Halamshiral, Jayla Trevelyan, Malnutrition, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Slave comparisons, Temple of Mythal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 22:50:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9349703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Washedawaycloud/pseuds/Washedawaycloud
Summary: The quick and quiet observations of a modern woman about the physical state of Elves.





	

The Alienage of Halamshiral makes Jayla’s eyes water and her stomach twist. The people here – this city was rolling in riches, the winter retreat of the royal court. But the women are as short as she is, and the way they move so carefully. No one is feeding them here. They look like the slaves Jayla was taught about in college. Emaciated, broken, there is no light in their eyes.

It staggers her physically, she leans against a wall as the others of her party look on. It was her who had insisted they come here. Elves – there had been several servants who died in the Winter Palace. Jayla had wanted to – to inform the families. Now that she was here, her heart is pulsing in pain. She felt kinship to a race not her own.

What had her professor called the theory? Ancestral memory? That had to be why she felt this like a blow to the gut. Why photos of her great grandparents had made her stomach twist in bitter rage and quiet pride. They had survived. Did portraits or sketches of their ancestors make them feel similar?

She watches as Solas strides toward the tree at the center of the Alienage. He fits in here no better than he had in the Exalted Plains. He is too well fed, too sturdy. He is half again the size of the men appearing to be his age. Thighs stronger, feet bigger, hands far, far and again less gnarled. His ears are longer, eyes brighter. Cheeks more full than anyone here.

Eyes too large for children’s heads haunt her. Their lack of height hounds her as they come away with purchases paid for over the asking price. Reedy cries from babes have her blinking rapidly. When they meet with Josie back at the Winter Palace, Jayla demands the woman reallocate their supplies across the Inquisition, food will be given to the elves of the Exalted plains, of the Alienages they had contact with. No one should look half a step from death and still be deemed ‘healthy’. She does not see the way storm blue eyes watch her as she retreats to her assigned quarters to ready herself for what will no doubt be a very trying few days.

\---------

This was a battle against time. They had but moments to reach the well before that great abomination broke through the Sentinels and laid waste to everything in his path. Still, there is time enough for dark eyes to note the differences. Sera, for all that she has been well fed among the Inquisition, is practically a transparent waif compared to the females among the Sentinels. All the admired tone in her arms and legs is – it’s sickly when Jayla takes in the sturdy nature of the rogues who appear and disappear. These women, malnourished as they are, have double the body mass of Sera. Their cheek bones are sharp in relief to their shallow cheeks, and yet even that is healthier than how Sera looks. They are taller, with hips, slight though they may be in comparison to a human, but far fuller than what Sera sports. Sera hovers just over Jayla, perhaps five five, while Cassandra must be at least five seven or five nine, and Jayla is a mere five foot.

The thud and crack of tile being decimated under a warrior’s hammer makes the Inquisitor jump as they slide into yet another room. The crone before them has several inches on both Sera and Cassandra. The men, like the one who crushes a Red Templar with barely a thought, is huge. She has never seen an Elven man of such stature. They had all been of the same height as Sera. Though some had bigger eyes, almost alien in nature, with pinched faces. This man, who she lets her magic wash over, healing small bruises and trying to reinvigorate, so he might survive whatever else is thrown his way, is built more like Cullen. Broad shoulders, thick waist, muscled legs that her eyes flick over, arms that were impressive for any male let alone an elf. He reminds her of a body builder from her days on earth.

Were any of the people from the Alienage here, this warrior would likely seem like an ogre. He would seem a monster to the people who only knew starvation and statures stunted by it. Her head shakes as they continue on.

The archers and rogues more closely resemble Solas. All wiry and compact, yet they are broader than her apostate is. Their ears are all longer, delicate, lobes small, the width of them slighter than any of the Dalish or city elves she’s encountered. Even Solas’ ears are big, but not these elves. Dainty. Their ears are dainty. Their eyes are smaller, not almost distressingly large. More like Solas’ yet a touch more open. He had such lidded eyes.

The run for the well ends with Jayla between Abelas and Morrigan, Solas between her and Abelas. The difference is stark. Solas may be nearer to Cullen in height, but Abelas has several inches on Solas. Their facial features are similar and yet Solas appears so much older than Abelas. Appearing to be in his mid-forties while Abelas has clearly only breached his thirties. Solas has a healthy glow to his pallor, Abelas is looking jaundiced. Perhaps an effect of waking recently?

But she has no more time to look at elves and make comparisons. Morrigan demands the well. Greedy, grasping at a culture not her own. Jayla out right denies her. But begs Abelas in the next breath to let them have the knowledge stored in it. She begs for that and for his people to call a retreat. Corypheus could not take all the lives here. It would be a waste. A terrible waste.

Solas and Sera refuse the well, want nothing to do with it. Someone must hold it – and Morrigan cannot be allowed to have something so precious. Jayla’s hand reaches for Solas, she begs with her eyes for him to understand, tells Abelas to get his people out, and steps into the water, fingers falling from Solas and dipping into the water below. She would use the well, and she would store the knowledge, she would write it all, she would give it to Solas, or Abelas if they survived. It would not be lost to the people who truly needed it.


End file.
